Celtic Kingdoms of the British Isles

Celts of Britain

Elmet (Elmetia
/ Elfed)

Much
about the existence of the Romano-British kingdom of Elmet is shrouded in
mystery or vague fact, although tantalisingly less so than with many of its
peers. It was located in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, along with
eastern Derbyshire and with extensions into West Yorkshire and lower North
Yorkshire. Bordering it to the east was Lind Colun (which very early on became
Lindsey under the Angles),
Caer Lerion to the south (also quickly overrun by the
Middil Engle), the
'Kingdom of the Pennines' to
the west and north-west, and
Ebrauc to the north and north-east.

Elmet
(or Elmetia in its Latinised form, and Elfed as perhaps a later Brythonic
form) apparently emerged in the late fifth century as a result of the
fragmentation of the powerful 'Kingdom of
Northern Britain'. This had been
formed of the territory between the River Humber and Hadrian's Wall, with
some extensions northwards of that, and primarily it seems to have been a
continuance of the
Roman
military command of the north. Elmet's territory was descended from that of the tribe of the
Corieltavi, with the northern
part coming from the Brigantes
and perhaps centred on Loidis (Latin Campoduno, modern Leeds). In fact,
Loidis may have formed the core of Elmet, and the last part of it to fall.
Elmet was a bulwark of the defence of lower northern
Britain, and once
it did fall, so too did any realistic British hope of holding onto the Pennines.

The origin of the name Elmet has not been easy to deduce, and the deduction
is rather tortuous. It seems to bear no relation to the earlier tribe around
the Loidis area (modern Leeds) which is known to have removed itself from the
confederation of the Brigantes in the second century. What's more, unlike
Rheged and perhaps
Berneich, it is not descended
from the name Brigantes. In attempting to analyse the name Elmet, a
back-to-front approach seems to work best. The Britons in Roman Britannia
appear to have habitually dropped the ends off names. The '-us' and '-um'
at the end of Latin names vanished. Knowing this, a search for possible
suffixes for '-et' and '-ete', plus another as yet unknown element produces
'-etum', a Latin suffix denoting a grove: '-etum' (plural '-etums' or '-eta'
- from Latin '-etum', also meaning garden (pinetum, arboretum, palmetum)).
This brings up a possible link to 'elm grove'. Old English 'elm' comes from
the proto-Germanic
*elmaz (which also supplies the Danish elm, Old Norse almr, and Old High
German elme). This perhaps stems from a
proto-Indo-European
root of *el-, meaning 'red', 'brown' (see 'elk'); which is cognate with the
Latin 'ulmus', Old Irish 'lem'. German 'ulme', Dutch 'olm', all of which are
from or influenced by the Latin word. Notice that the Irish Gaelic spelling
is 'lem', using an 'e', with position swapped with the 'l'. The insular
Brythonic form is unknown, but the suspicion is that the local pronunciation
stuck the 'e' in front. This supplies the possibility that the local Brythonic
used an 'e', perhaps meaning that Elmet had been settled by
Celts whose
language had been altered by strong contact with
Germans, in other words,
the Belgae.

Then there is the statement in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal: 'This
hilly limestone region, between the Wharfe and the Aire, was once a great
forest of elm-trees. It was the Elmet of remote times...' So Elmet was indeed
an elm forest. The modern Welsh
word for elm is 'llwyfen' ('llwyfanen'). The 'f' in the word was once an 'm',
and the 'll' was once a single 'l', giving 'lwymen', a sequence similar to
the Irish Gaelic. But modern Welsh is descended from Gaulish speech, not from
Belgic,
so perhaps the Belgic used a German loan word. Combine the two parts above
and Elmet would mean simply 'elm forest'. As for the later descent of the
name, by the rules of Welsh consonant shift an internal 'm' becomes a 'v'
sound (spelled 'f' in Welsh), and the hard 't' on the end softens to 'd',
and then becomes a voiced 'th'. Then from contact with the
English, this voiced
'th' would either vanish or be replaced by an 's' sound. This is seen in
the Welsh and Cornish
version of the name David, which became Dafydd in modern Welsh but which
the English turned into Davey in Cornwall, and Davis on the Welsh border (by
this latter transformation, Elmet as a proper name is famous in the
twentieth century as the first name of Elvis Presley!).

Within the kingdom's borders, the region of Mission gained its name from the
Brythonic word 'magestu', meaning 'open land', an expanse relatively free of
trees. This area had been wooded until the
Romans
burned it down during their invasion of the Corieltavi lands in AD 46. The
woods gradually regenerated, but were devastated by a flood, probably in the
late fourth century. This knocked down all the trees, which were later found
in the bogs with their tops pointing downstream. From that point on, the
area was mostly open with a little wetland forest lying in spots across open
fens. Nearby Messingham probably gained the first and oldest part of its
name for the same reason; 'mess'. The Brythonic word 'magestu' evolved into
the Old Welsh plural 'maessid' and 'mais' and then the Middle and Modern
Welsh 'maes', showing a development that could easily be interpreted by the
Angles
of the Lindisware or
Mercia as 'mess', to
which they appended 'ing' to denote the people who settled the area.

Interestingly,
following Elmet's fall, its population of Britons might have stayed put
(royal family aside) and maintained a strong presence in the area. Later
Anglo-Saxon names such as Barwick survive (berewic is Old English
for 'corn farm'), in this case as Barwick-in-Elmet, as if the locals were
determined to maintain the memory of the fallen kingdom. The incoming
Angles
became known as the Elmed Saetna, or Elmet settlers, so it is clear that the
name was well enough established with the invaders to survive its own collapse.

(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information
from A History of the English Church and People, The Venerable Bede
(Leo Sherley-Price translation - revised by R E Latham), from the Annales
Cambriae, James Ingram (taken from the Harleian manuscript, the earliest
surviving version, London, Everyman Press, 1912), from Early Territorial
Organization in Gwynedd and Elmet, G R J Jones (1975), from Place
Names of The West Riding of Yorkshire, A H Smith (1971), and from
External Links:
Brittonic Language in the
Old North, and
Suffix Dictionary, and
Online Entymology Dictionary, and
The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. The notes on Elmet's demise have
been greatly enhanced by M R Watson.)

Mascuid
is granted the territory of Elmet by his father, Gwrast Lledlwm, king of
Rheged. Loidis (Leeds) may
form his capital, but this is far from clear. It may even be a separate
region or sub-kingdom of its own. This event seems to coincide with the death
of Mor ap Ceneu, 'King of Northern
Britain', and the subsequent division of his north-eastern territory
into Ebrauc to the east of Elmet and the 'Kingdom of the
Pennines' to the west. This
would probably leave Elmet permanently cut off from Rheged and perhaps even
in danger of annexation, so it is in Gwrast's interests to ensure that one
of his sons is in command of the territory. The territory at this time is at
its greatest extent, probably extending as far south as the point at which
the Derwent joins the River Trent.

A map showing Elmet's probable borders during its greatest
extent, with the grey areas being lost first, and the deep pink
area last, in 617 (click or tap on map to view full size)

fl c.495

Llaenauc / Llaennog
ap Masgwid

Son.

c.495

Although
Llaenauc has been linked by some to territories further to the north, the
fact that his father has clear associations with the founding of Elmet
ties him to this territorium. It has been suggested that he is the
founder of an early sixth century
British kingdom
which is centred on Lennox (now in southern
Scotland), and giving
his name to the town. No evidence exists to support this theory and it seems
much more likely to be an attempt to explain the town's name by linking it
to a known British ruler.

Arthuis'
role in Elmet is unclear. As a younger son of Mascuid he is unlikely to
inherit the kingship, but could the
Celtic
habit of dividing territories amongst all surviving sons mean that he holds
power in an Elmetian sub-territory? The period in which he flourishes, at
the end of the fifth century, is also contemporary with the most probable
period in which the better known Arthur is dux Britanniarum and
possibly even an emperor of
Britain in the
style of several
Romans
before him, meaning that the two are often confused (see feature link).

fl c.500

St Cynllo ap Masgwid

Brother.

fl c.500

Ceredig ap Masgwid

Brother.

c.540 - after 590

Guallauc / Gwallog
Marchod Trin

Son of Llaenauc.
Identified with Elmet via two surviving poems.

c.540

Guallac
is appropriately nicknamed 'Marchod Trin' ('Battle Horseman') in early material
that survives by being transported to
Wales. There are two surviving poems
concerning him, one of which calls him a 'judge over Elmet', suggesting he is not
so much a king, more a commander-in-chief or even a magistrate (a
Roman
position of governance that seems to have been strongly maintained in the south
in the fifth century but is seemingly unheard of in the sixth).

559

The
Angles
of Deira assert their full
independence at the same time as Ida of
Bernicia dies, raising the
threat of invasion into
Ebrauc or Elmet by hostile
former mercenaries.

c.570 - 580

The
Deirans continue to gain
ground in neighbouring
Ebrauc. Although
by now they seem to have already captured the coast by about 570, the
city of Ebrauc (York) is known to have fallen later, between about
570-580, so it seems likely, given their dates of death (Annales
Cambriae), that the sons of Eliffer had been fighting on from their
capital until overrun. The loss of Ebrauc to the Deirans leaves Elmet's
long north-eastern border exposed.

The cemetery at Sancton in East Yorkshire was created by the
pagan Saxons of Deira in the sixth century, situated close to
two Roman roads which would have been in use at the time, albeit
in a declining state of repair

590

Guallauc
allies himself to his cousin, Urien
Rheged. A
confederation of British kings is formed from this alliance, primarily
based and operating in the north. The dispossessed Morcant Bulc of
Bernaccia and Rhiderch
Hael of Alt
Clut both join the confederation in operations against Anglian
Bernicia, and are present
at the siege of Ynys Metcaut (Lindisfarne) in this year. The Bernicians
are almost driven out of
Britain but
the confederation falls apart when Morcant Bulc has Urien Rheged
assassinated, fearing his great power should the Britons win the war
against the invaders. His act fatally weakens the British cause in the
north.

The
fall of Dunoting, and probably
The Peak at the same time,
leaves Elmet surrounded on all sides by its enemies from the Anglian kingdom
of Bernicia. They are growing
increasingly powerful at the expense of the remaining 'Men of the North'.
Ceretic himself is sometimes mistakenly called the nephew of 'King Arthur',
thanks to his great-uncle being Arthuis, 'Prince of Elmet'. His name, Ceretic
or Caradog, means 'beloved of Dagda', Dagda being Dag, the solar god who is
cognate with English 'day', plus 'da', meaning 'good' - 'good Dag', in the
same way that Christians might say 'blessed lord'.

c.597

The
Battle of Catreath is a disaster for the
Britons. The flower of
the northern British warrior class is decimated by the superior numbers of the
BernicianAngles.
Guotodin, as well as the
other kingdoms of the North, probably including Elmet, are all fatally weakened by
the defeat. Elmet's greatest champion, Madoc, is certainly numbered amongst the
casualties, and it seems likely that Elmet's borders are reduced around the same
time to a core territory lying between Danum (Doncaster), Legiolium, and Loidis
(Leeds), all west of the final stretch of the River Don before it meets the Humber.
This is most likely to be due to an opportunistic raid by
Deira, and it may also suggest that
Elmet becomes tributary to the dominant Angles around this time.

616 - 617

As
recorded by Bede, Saint Hilda is born in 614 as a member of the royal family
of Deira, which had been driven
out in 593 by Ęthelfrith of
Bernicia. Hilda grows up
under the protection of Ceretic, whom Bede describes as 'King of the
Britons', suggesting
that he is a candidate for the high kingship (and a viable one that fits into
the chronology under the name of Keretic).

In 616, Edwin is restored in Deira and invades Bernicia to become ruler of
all the
Angles
north of the Humber. He begins a push westwards that will gain him the entire
Pennine region, and in 617 he uses the poisoning of Hilda's father, Prince
Hereric, as a pretext for invading Elmet, holding Ceretic responsible. As
Ceretic had been on peaceful terms with Ęthelfrith, it is possible that the
death was to appease the Bernician king. The Elmetians are outnumbered by
Edwin's host and are chased to the River Don (probably the southern border
of the kingdom) where they finally make a stand. The doomed stand is defeated
in a battle fought near the former
Roman
settlement of Bawtry (approximately ten kilometres (six miles) south-east of
Danum (Doncaster), on the Roman road to Linnuis
(Lindsey). Edwin is able to
subdue the kingdom and its last native king, Ceretic, is expelled and dies
around 619.

The River Idle, just south of Bawtry, which connected to the
River Don until 1628, was the scene of the final battle for
Elmet's free British warriors

617 - 634

High King Cadwallon
(and probably his father, too) already holds a claim to the crown of
Deira as part of his domains.
He now apparently includes Elmet in this claim, and this is enforced when
Cadwallon and Penda of
Mercia kill Edwin of
Bernicia in 633 at Hatfield
Chase. When Cadwallon himself is killed at Heavenfield in 634 by Oswald of
Bernicia, that claim probably dies with him.

634 - 655

Penda
of Mercia may have
inherited his former ally's claim to Elmet, but his death at the hands of
Oswiu of
Northumbria
at the Battle of Winwaed marks a definite demise for Elmet. Whin Moor near
Leeds is the reputed site of the battle, with Penda's forces being driven
back to the River Air, probably at Woodlesford. Much of Elmet appears to
fall under the control of Northumbria, although at least a small slice of
its southern territory is in the hands of the Mercians by the late seventh
century, as witnessed by the 600 hides attributed to it in the Tribal Hidage
document.